How a transistor works
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters prefer it over other transistor explanations as an enlightening starting point that leads into building logic gates and a CPU.
What it is
Ben Eater gives a detailed look at how an NPN bipolar junction transistor works and what it does. It is an eleven-minute explanation aimed at building real understanding of the device.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2020 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Recommends news_to_me · 2020-08 · on “Black silicon photodetector breaks the 100% efficiency limit”
Great explanation — although only a week or so ago I wouldn't have understood a lot of it. Knowing how transistors work helps a lot: [this video]
Recommends ceronman · 2022-09 · on “How Transistors Work [video]”
This is a good explanation, but I prefer the one by Ben Eater: How semiconductor works: [LINK] How a transistor works: [this video]
Recommends npilk · 2022-11 · on “How do transistors work, anyway?”
As someone who is not an electrical engineer, I found Ben Eater's videos on how semiconductors work and how transistors work interesting and enlightening. How semiconductors work: [LINK] How a transistor works: [this video]
Recommends 1000100_1000101 · 2023-12 · on “From Nand to Tetris (2017)”
Aside from his basic 8-bit CPU, Ben Eater goes into how transistors work too: [this video] . Once you've got transistors, his videos walk you through making gates. Once you've got gates, he switches to the 74xx series and builds a CPU.